Reviewed by Jen B.
TITLE: The God of Jazz: Fugue, Concord
AUTHOR: Varian Krylov
PUBLISHER: Varian Krylov
LENGTH: 326 Pages
RELEASE DATE: September 26, 2016
BLURB:
After years struggling to realize his dream of directing a feature film, on the final night of his fundraising campaign Godard is on the cusp of having everything he ever wanted. The man he loves is upstairs waiting for him, and he’s just a few dollars short of his GoFundYourself goal.
Then everything falls apart.
His personal and professional life in ruins, when his old nemesis from film school offers to fund his dream project if he’s willing to shoot it in Spain, Godard knows it’s a deal with the devil. But he also has nothing left to lose.
Among the labyrinthine streets of Barcelona’s Barrio Góthico, the city’s vibrant music scene, and the sun-gilt beaches of the Costa Brava, Godard begins shooting his dream project and putting his life back together, largely under the domineering gaze and deft touch of Ángel, the god of jazz.
But Ángel is keeping a secret, and a deal with the devil always comes at a price
REVIEW:
Godard is watching his dream go down the drain as his GoFund goal isn’t met, thus losing him all funding for the film he has been longing to make since film school. Then, his boyfriend of five years cheats on him with their friend. So, he’s pretty down in the dumps when he gets a call from another friend, Jordie, from film school offering to fund the entire project – in Spain.
Godard was a very sweet and likable character. I was behind him from the get go and really wanted to see him succeed, both with his passion as well as his love life. He wasn’t a doormat with the ex and wasn’t going to let Jordie walk all over him and his project either. Jordie was another matter. There was so much to not like about him and a sense of ulterior motives was apparent pretty right from the start.
While waiting for Jordie to show up in Spain, Godard got acclimated, and it wasn’t until he saw Angel playing in the club that things perked up for me. I loved the mysterious and sexy Angel. He and Godard embarked on a hot and steamy affair that felt very natural, especially the way things played out once they discussed their relationship becoming more. My favorite parts of this story were starring these two, and I could have kept reading about them long after the story ended.
The film Godard is making takes up a good bit of this story. It is almost a story within the story, which was interesting at first, but quickly took up page time from the rest of the story. There are also the issues with Jordie that spiraled out of control before things come around full circle and everyone is able to continue as scheduled. Some of the events seemed a bit out of the blue and a tad unnecessary, and I would have been more interested to see more of Godard and Angel’s deepening relationship. Perhaps they were meant to add more
This started slowly for me, and other than the film aspect, I wasn’t really sure which direction it was going, and that direction changed a few times throughout, which kind of threw me out of the story a bit. I did love how Godard was able to find love without losing his passion for film making in the process. He discovers he is part of a new family, and after a few bumps in the road, is able to really pull his life together. While I wasn’t completely wowed by this story, it was well written and there were a lot of aspects I enjoyed and definitely feel a bit more cultured after having read it.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS: